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THE PROGRAM 

The meeting oi' the State Historical Society 
at this annual commemoration of the seventh of 
June, on which day Daniel Boone "first saw the 
level of the beautiful land of Kentucky," was in 
all respects one of the most delightful the Society 
has held in its elegant quarters in the new Capitol. 

The program fulfilled its promise of good 
things, and the speakers and musicians were at 
their best. No reports are read on these occasions ; 
the proceedings are for social reunion, and literary 
papers and music are the features. 

The program was carried out, with due regard 
to time, as follows : Governor James B. McCreary, 
President of the Society, opened the meeting, and, 
after a brief and eloquent prayer by Eev. Jesse E. 
Zeigler, made an impromptu address. He gave a re- 
view of the Society from the time he as its first 
President, after the Civil War, conducted it for 
four years, from 1875 to 1879. 

The Governor then introduced the Regent, and 
asked that she address the assembly, after the 
usual custom on such occasions. 

As his address had embodied much that was 
in her paper, she declined to read it, lest it should 
occupy too much time, saying: ''Ladies and gentle- 




2 Boone Day Meeting. 

men, I did not tell the Governor what to say when I 
requested him to make an address, but in his re- 
marks he has in some mysterious way embodied 
much that I have written, and as our program is 
long, I ask that you will excuse me from reading 
my i)aper today, and promise that you may read it 
in the September Register." 

Following Mrs. Morton's apology came the 
reading of "The Moneyless Man" and the unveil- 
ing of Major Henry T. Stanton's portrait. 

The poem was read by Hon. H. V. McChesney, 
Avho preceded the reading by a brief introduction, 
in which he said that while the purpose of these an- 
nual meetings on the seventh of June was primarily 
to do honor to the memory of Daniel Boone, on this 
particular occasion the Society had a double pur- 
pose in view, to honor the memory of Boone, and 
also to pay a tribute to the memory of Kentucky's 
Poet-Laureate, Major Henry T. Stanton. He said 
that the Society wished to pay this tribute to Major 
Stanton not only as the Poet-Laureate of Ken- 
tucky, but as an early and staunch friend of the 
Kentucky Historical Society. Following these in- 
troductory remarks Mr. McChesney read the fol- 
lowing comment from the "Illustrated Ken- 
tuckian:" "When this poem appeared in the 
Liverpool Times, the Royal Society of Letters in 
England placed the signet of everlasting applause 
upon it, and it was awarded the first honor, years 
ago, as the most vigorous and finished American 
poem. It has found its way to tlie hearthstones of 
both continents, and swept with its firm yet gentle 
fingers the weary worn hearts of the throbbing 
thousands to whom gold is only a dream." Mr. 
McChesney read the poem very impressively — we 
do not think the author himself ever read it better. 
When concluded, lie introduced Miss Marguerite 



Boone Day Meeting. 3 

McLean, of Louisville, granddaiigliter of tlie poet, 
who gracefully came forward, and gently touched 
the string of the elegant silk Confederate banner 
that veiled the portrait. It fell back, and waved 
away from the life-like face of the late beloved 
Laureate of Kentucky. Great applause greeted the 
unveiling, and many eyes were wet, the audience 
being deeply touched by this honor paid the poet 
whose songs honored his name and Kentucky. 

Miss Lucy Cliinn now played a beautiful pre- 
lude on the piano for the program that followed. 
Mrs. Kate C. Bailey, of Shelbyville, conducted the 
music, with her class as musicians. 

Mrs. Bailey is a pianist of distinctioUr and had 
her class well trained for the day; the numbers 
were all beautiful and played with skill and ex- 
pression. 

Miss Corinne Bailey sustained her reputation 
for wonderful sweetness in song, as did Mrs. Barks- 
dale Hamlett, in the lovely song, "The Beautiful 
Land of Nod," accompanied by the charming Miss 
Priscilla Williams on the violin. "The Harp" was 
never rendered more beautifully than by Miss 
Errickson. The Misses Thomas delighted the 
audience by their execution, both in "Two Larks," 
and "The Duet." 

Mrs. Charles Bell never appeared more 
lovely in person than when she recited with 
dramatic power and patriotic enthusiasm her 
number, "Sig-ning the Declaration of Independ- 
ence." She brought the scene of the actors in this 
drama of freedom before the audience. It 
was a splendid rendition of the speech of the 
wizard Jetferson. The command "Sign" spell- 
bound the audience, and when she ceased tre- 
menduos applause attested the appreciation of her 
recitation. 



4 Boone Day Meeting. 

Miss Aubyn Cbinn, wlio gave a charming talk 
about Cumberland Gap, is a mere slip of young 
womanhood of this city. But for the fact that she is 
now a noted speaker for the State University, of 
Lexington, it might have been considered the im- 
pertinent confidence of youth for one so young to 
follow the distinguished and attractive orator, 
Prof. H. G. Shearin, President of Hamilton Col- 
lege, and Professor a,t Transylvaniaj University, 
Lexington, Kentucky. His "Memories and Mel- 
odies of the Wilderness Road," was a delightful 
retrospect. He had for illustration, a dulcimer, a 
map he had drawn showing the route through Cum- 
berland Gap to the Blue Grass Region, and beneath 
the map was the much admired painting of 
"Shaker's Ferry," by Hundleigh. This address 
was much enjoyed by the audience, who perhaps 
Imew more from President Shearin and Miss 
AubjTi Chinn's scholarly and vivid descriptions of 
the Wilderness Road than they had ever read or 
heard before. We trust we may have the addresses 
at sometime for the Register. 

Mr. W. W. Stephenson's "Historic Homes of 
Harrodsburg" was listened to with rapt attention. 
It will be given in the September number of the 
Register. The illustrations were of many of these 
elegant homes in this "Cradle of the Common- 
wealth," as the author proudly styles Harrodsburg. 

Col. J. Tandy Ellis, a soldier-bard, following 
in the lead of O'Hara and Stanton, who were both 
soldiers, recited his charming dialect poem, ' ' Under 
the EUum Tree Whar Brackenridge Spoke." It 
was received by rounds of applause, and eyes wet 
with emotion and admiration v,Tre raised from 
the poet to the portrait of John C. Breckinridge 
above him, the gift of General P. P. Johnson, to 
the Kentucky Slate Historical Society. 



Boone Day Meeting. 5 

Mrs. Bailey and lier accomplished daughter, 
Miss Corinne Bailey, with an exquisite song con- 
cluded the program. Many thought Mrs. Bailey 
had reserved her best number for the last, it was 
so beautiful, but we learned it was substituted for 
the number of an absent performer, unavoidably 
detained at home. The thanks of the Society were 
tendered Mrs. Bailey for her assistance. She is an 
adept in pleasing the public, and gives them music, 
instead of ^'a practical demonstration of finger ex- 
ercises on the piano,." as our German instructor 
in music called the latter day eccentricities in 
technique, high class sound, or artistic fingering 
on keys or strings. 

The audience was dimissed and the invited 
guests remained to partake of an elegant buffet 
luncheon prepared for the visitors and members 
from a distance. 

The Society's rooms w^ere beautifully deco- 
rated in pink roses, pink carnations and ferns. 
A round table in the Library was covered with a 
snowy cloth; in the center stood a cut glass bowl 
of splendid Killarney roses. At this ' table the 
Grovemor, the Judges of the Court of Appeals and 
other distinguished persons were served. 

Mrs. Morton, Regent, received during the day 
a great many letters of regret ft*om members and 
friends of the Society who could not be present. 
Among these were the regrets of the Hon. Champ 
Clark, from whom Mrs. Morton received the fol- 
lowing letter: 

''Mrs. Jennie C. Morton, 

Frankf'ort, Ky. 
My Dear Mrs. Morton:— 

I have your very kind invitation to attend the 
luncheon of the Kentucky State Historical Society, 



6 Boone Day Meeting. 

on Friday, Jiine 7, and would be deliglited to at- 
tend, but it it is impossible. I cannot leave Wash- 
ington wliile the House is in session so near the end 
of the session. 

I trust that it will prove a most enjoyable oc- 
casion, as I am certain it will, and much regret 
that I cannot enjoy it with you. 

Your friend. 

Champ Clark." 

Letters of regret were also received from Col. 
J. Stoddard Johnston, Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. 
Thomas A. Pickett, Maysville, Kentucky, Mrs. Belle 
Eogers, Maysville, Ky., Dr. Benj. Shambaugh, 
Editor of the Iowa Journal of History and Politics, 
Iowa City, Iowa, Dr. Jameson, Author and Editor 
of the American Historical Review, Washington, 
D. C, Rev. Alex. A. Lindsay, Poet, Franklin, N. Y., 
Hon. W. S. Laidley, Historian, Charleston, West 
Virginia (who sent with his regrets his elegant 
history of Charleston and Kanawa County, West 
Virginia, to the Regent), Hon. F. A. Richardson, 
Librarian Supreme Court, Denver, Colorado, Hon. 
Alfred Pirtle, Author of the "Chenoweth 
Massacre," Louisville, Ky., Judge and Mrs. James 
Breathitt, Hopkinsville Ky. (who sent regrets and 
good wishes for the continued success of the So- 
ciety). 

Among the number of out-of-town visitors who 
enjoyed the program were Col. John A. Steele, of 
Midway, one of the original incorporators of the 
Society, Miss Martha Stephenson, of Harrodsburg, 
Mrs. Luke P. Blackburn, of Louisville, Mrs. Henry 
T. Stanton and her daughters and grandchildren, 
Mrs. Gray McLean and Mrs. Robert Boyd Robert- 
son, of Louisville, Mrs. George Willis, of Shelby- 
ville, and daughter Miss Martha Willis, Miss Mar- 



Boone Day Meeting. 7 

guerite McLean, Louisville, Ky., also Miss Bettie 
Tom Vimont, of Millersburg, Ky., Mrs. Jenny 
Kenney Lisle, of' Paris, Ky., Mrs. Hubert Sliearin, 
of Lexington, Ky., Mrs. W. J. Thomas and two 
cliildren. Miss Alberta Dubourg, of Shelbyville, 
Ky., and Hundleigli, the artist. 

An informal reception was held following the 
program, during which a buffet luncheon was 
served the strangers who attended the exercises, 
the members of the Society, and a number of in- 
vited guests. 

DONATIONS RECEIVED 

The following donations were received: A 
small linen table cloth. The flax was raised at 
''Traveler's Rest," and spun and woven into cloth 
by Susanna Hart, wife of Governor Isaac Shelby, 
first Grovernor of Kentucky. It was presented by 
Mrs. Willis Field, Versailles, Ky., a great grand- 
daughter of Gov. Shelby; and a Mexican silver- 
mounted saddle and bridle, captured during the 
Mexican War by Lieut La Fayette Dunlap, and 
presented by his nephew. Dr. Fayette Dunlap, Dan- 
ville, Ky. 

As the Kentucky State Historical Society Avas 
founded in honor of Daniel Boone, we place here 
with pleasure the following clipping sent us from 
Philadelphia. It is well for Kentuckians to know 
the estimate placed upon this hero-warrior of the 
wilderness, whose courage and intelligence has 
brought world-wide renown to his name. ' 



8 Boone Day Meeting. 

DANIEL BOONE IN KENTUCKY. 

By Rev. Thomas B. Gregory. 

April 30, 1769. 

It was one Inmdred and forty-tliree years ago 
today, April 30, 1769, that Daniel Boone got his 
first glimpse of the fair region now known as Ken- 
tucky. On that day Boone, with James Robinson, 
a yonng Scotch-Irishman, stood on a mountain path 
and looked down upon the Watauga winding along 
through its enchanting valley, and he resolved that 
it should not be his last vision of the earthly 
paradise. 

At the time of Boone's first sight of Ken- 
tucky from the summit of the Blue Ridge it was a 
vast hunting-ground upon which the savage tribes 
killed the elk and buffalo. No settlement existed 
within its borders. Its dark forests separated the 
tribes of the Cherokees, Creeks and Catawbas of 
the South from the hostile tribes of the North, 
who often encountered one another in deadly con- 
flict. On this account the region had long been 
known among the aborigines as the "Dark and 
Bloody Ground." 

The story of the man who gave this glorious 
region to the white man is one of the most inter- 
esting in the world. Justin Winsor, one of the 
greatest of our historians, speaks of the Father of 
Kentucky in words that are as true as they are 
beautiful : 

''Boone's rugged but tender personality was 
hard to shroud. We see his tall and slender figure, 
too muscular to be gaunt. His eyes idealized his 
head. His experience had toughened his sinews, 
and made his senses alert. Any emergency brought 



Boone Day Meeting. 9 

liim well-nig'li to the normal perfection of a man. 
His kindness draws us to Mm. His audacity makes 
us as confident as himself. His fringed hunting- 
shirt, belted so that its ample folds carried his 
food, may be ragged; his leggins may be tattered 
by the brush; his moccasins cut by the ledge; his 
knife clotted vvitli the blood of the wolf; but the rich 
copse and the bounding elk share our scrutiny with 
his person, and we look to the magnolia, laurel and 
ash, to the foaming stream and the limestone clitfs 
as his background ; and all that the man stands for 
in bravery and constancy is mated with the en- 
chantment of nature." 

No State in the Union has at the forefront of 
its history a nobler character than he who heads 
the story of the "Blue Grass State." 

God never made a grander man than Daniel 
Boone, and in every public school in the land the 
story of his life should be made a regular part of 
the children's study. It would be a moral tonic. It 
would redden the children's blood and help to 
make them brave, honorable and upright citizens. 



Address of the Eegent, Mrs. Jennie C. Morton, 
which was omitted from the program. 
''Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

In my great desire to have an elegant occasion, 
I purposely omitted the Eegent of the State Histor- 
ical Society — lest ego become an intrusion, an of- 
fense. On this 15th annual commemoration of 
Boone Day, you have before you in large part the 
work of the Secretary-Treasurer, the Editor of the 
Eegivster, and the Eegent. Dorcas's houshold 
needle work spoke for her, in death. This is a 
larger, more difficult and more complicated work 
for the State of Kentucky that is -before you in this 
Hall of Fame, and the able workers in this depart- 



10 Boone Day Meeting. 

ment, officers of the State Historical Society, are 
before you in life, asking your approval, your 
co-operation and your good wishes, while you 
enjoy the grand results before you of their faithful 
endeavor. 

I feel sure if the first founders of the Kentucky 
State Historical Society in 1836, now seventy-six 
years ago, could look down on the acorn of their 
planting, they with the world famous man, Boone, 
would be amazed at its growth and its ft»liage, now 
a wide spreading tree with branches in Europe and 
in the Isles of the Sea. They could not have 
dreamed of this result. They planted the seed, and 
seemed to have cared for it no more. It was left 
to struggle into existence now and then, battling 
with neglect and poverty of soil, but showing like 
the Jerusalem flower when placed in water, there 
was life in it somewhere. 

It was after the Civil w^ar that Governor James 
B. McCreary, Captain John Andrew Steele, and a 
number of such gallant and distinguished men un- 
dertook its care. For a few years it lived and 
thrived under their protection, but changes came, 
death and distance removed many of the members, 
and finally cold indifference remanded the Ken- 
tucky Historical Society to oblivion and its few 
curios, mss. &c., were hidden away in closets in the 
old Capitol. 

In 1896 there came a little company of 20th 
century people into the old Capitol (our Society). 
When they saw the relics they resolved to restore 
the Society these once represented. Today they 
point you to the result of their care, loyal protec- 
tion and intelligent vigilance. - 

We are proud of our Capitol, but w^e are 
prouder still of our rooms in it. Our splendid 
Library, with its wealth of historical literature. 



Boone Day Meeting. 11 

and the paintings and portraits of inestimable 
valne. These historical treasures that we have 
been able to collect by purchase, by solicitation, 
and influence, with the aid of our small State ap- 
propriation, have been and will continue to be of 
great service to the educational system of the State, 
as well as instructors f'or the masses that visit the 
Historical Rooms. 

Our Society, under its charter, occupies a 
unique position in the State Government, be- 
ing as one of our most distinguished jurists 
has said, a "Protectorate," in the recent usage 
of this term. It has its own rules governing 
the body, and directing and controlling its own 
interests, and electing it own officers; the while 
in close relation to the State, upholding its 
lavv^s and extending the power of the Common- 
wealth under which it receives its legitimate sup- 
port and f'or whose benefit it is conducted. 

Our Reports are now published in pamphlet 
form, and when examined and approved by the 
Governor, are laid before the Legislature at each 
recurring session, and afterwards filed in the 
Archives of the State. It will be seen and known 
by all that though a protectorate, our time, our 
thought, and our most faithful service is given for 
the uplift, and continued success and glory of the 
Commonv/ealth of Kentucky. 



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